Five NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan

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KABUL, Afghanistan, June 9 (UPI) -- Four U.S. soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash and a British soldier died in an explosion, NATO forces in Afghanistan said Wednesday.

The four U.S. soldiers died when their helicopter was shot down by hostile fire in Helmand Province Wednesday, said Lt. Col. Joseph Breasseale, a U.S. military spokesman.

The British soldier also was killed in Helmand province, the BBC reported.

Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said Taliban fighters used a rocket-propelled grenade to shoot down the helicopter in the Sangin district.

So far this month, 29 members of the NATO force in Afghanistan have been killed, CNN reported.

Elsewhere, gunmen attacked an Afghan-bound NATO convoy overnight near Islamabad, killing at least seven people and setting several vehicles on fire, authorities in Pakistan said.